Yesterday, I gathered up a pile of mesquite pods and brought them home to grnd into flour. What an adventure, I thought.

First rough grind was done in a heavy duty blender to reduce the pods to a size I could feed into my mill. I adjusted the mill for a 1st run & gave the mixture a rough grind; everything was fine up to that point. The second milling began with a strong smell, I ignored it, and pushed on. The final milling adjusted to produce a very fine grind, sounded very odd then slowed and stalled in the middle of the grind.

I adjusted, I turned on & off, I ran some wheat through, I tried just about everything. I soon realized that I had really screwed-up. The next 2 hours were spent removing a newly discovered mesquite epoxy from my mill stones. Once I finished, I was left with a spotless and once again functioning mill (and a resolve to PURCHASE my next batch of exotic flour).

I was so mad at myself, I did not even try to use the 3 tablespoons of mesquite flour that I had tbefore the crash. Oh well, live & learn.

phxdog,

You are now the proud recipient of Three Sourdough X-File Stars! Five would have been awarded if you had proceeded to bake bread with those three tablespoons...,

For discovering mesquite epoxy and for having the guts to report a giant screw-up you are awarded Five Sourdough X-File Stars! Interesting things are discovered when you least expect it! Levity aside, I think you found out why you need to dry the newly harvested items to reduce the water content. Sometimes this requires "cracking", "rolling" or "crushing" the items to expose the internal structure otherwise you're apt to discover a new organic form of epoxy...,

Wild-Yeast

OK,

Now I'm all excited to try grinding some mesquite flour again. This time, I think I'll start with a bit more research & follow-up on what you all have suggested. Thanks -

Phxdog (Scott)

Peter Felker

Thanks Scott

I have some recipe and fotos I would like to send to you. I dont see how to do this on this site. Please send me an email. Peter_Felker@hotmail.com

Hi, phxdog,

I did mesquite for the first time this year too. But I did do a little research before I started. For example, I dried my beans and thought I was all set. So I started milling. HA! I didn't get the beans dry enough and so had the gummy mess to clean up too. I had to soak my burrs for hours and then use a hard bristle toothbrush to get out the gum. I learned, though, and persevered, and HAVE used the flour. It is delicious! I put some in biscuits one night and didn't tell the family. They all complimented on the taste and asked what I did. Nice experience. I will definitely continue with my mesquite milling and using the meal.

BTW, mesquite beans make an awesome jelly. Cover the beans with water, bring to a boil. Simmer for about 3 hours then turn off the heat. Let pot sit several hours or overnight and then strain the juice. The cooking beans smell something like spiced honey and the jelly tastes that way too.

Hugs,
Anj